Five Players And/Or Coaches Who are in Danger of Losing Their Job

Life in the NFL can be a vicious cycle at times. There are always new people being hired and old people being fired. Some coaches and players are brought in with high expectations, but sometimes they don’t deliver or someone better comes along. In this article, I will be taking a look at several coaches and players who are on the hot seat.

Dirk Koetter, Head Coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After Lovie Smith was fired by the Chicago Bears, he was quickly brought in to help an atrocious Bucs team. When the Bucs drafted Florida State QB Jameis Winston #1 overall in the 2014, the club knew that they had to give him an offensive minded coach. That offensive minded coach was Dirk Koetter. As the #1 pick, Winston had lofty expectations that included turning around Tampa Bay’s future. He has been underwhelming, to put it nicely. He has been in trouble since college and has just been suspended for the first three games of 2018 for a 2016 incident in which he groped an Uber driver in Arizona. I don’t think Koetter is as bad of a coach as many make him out to be. Tampa Bay’s issues are: awful roster, immature quarterback, bad management and ownership.

Mike McCarthy, Head Coach, Green Bay Packers

A lot of people are probably going to be surprised by this. Aaron Rodgers and McCarthy have never really had a great relationship. Rodgers has expressed his frustration with the Packers organization this off-season after they cut his best friend Jordy Nelson and fired his QB coach, who he was also great friends with. The Packers executed both moves without even consulting him. McCarthy and Rodgers are also two different people. McCarthy is a tough, blount person while Rodgers is quiet and soft-spoken. Eventually, the two of them will get frustrated with each other and Green Bay will choose the star QB over the coach. I also believe that this could turn out like the John Fox-Denver Broncos situation. The team will feel like it can achieve better with the QB it has. Also, the Packers fired GM Ted Thompson, who hired McCarthy. Whenever there is a GM in place who did not hire the team’s current head coach, the head coach’s job is always in danger.

Pete Carroll, Head Coach, Seattle Seahawks

I believe that Pete Carroll is a top ten coach in the league, but this Seahawks situation is really getting out of hand. Most of the star talent that was on the Seahawks Super Bowl roster just a few years ago is gone. What’s left of it? QB Russell Wilson, S Earl Thomas, MLB Bobby Wagner. That’s about it. Not to mention that Thomas has given the Seahawks two choices: offer him a contract extension or trade him (to Oakland or Dallas?). It certainly doesn’t help that Seattle’s past few drafts have been awful and this one doesn’t appear to be any different. It certainly doesn’t help that the Los Angeles Rams are Super Bowl contenders and the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals seem to be on the rise. I think Carroll is a really good coach, but he is simply not producing. If you want to keep any job in any business, you have to produce.

Hue Jackson, Head Coach, Cleveland Browns

No one is going to be very shocked by this. He’s won just one game in the past two years with the Browns, and things do not appear to be looking up. Many people think the Browns “aced the off-season,” but the very thought of that is laughable to me. Tyrod Taylor is about as low end as you get when it comes to starting quarterbacks. The Browns also had a shot at Sam Darnold, the best QB in the draft, but screwed that up by taking undersized, arrogant Baker Mayfield #1 overall in 2018. At the #4 pick in 2018, they had their choice between any defender, EDGE Bradley Chubb would have been deadly opposite of 2017 #1 overall pick Myles Garrett, but the Browns somehow screwed that up, too and took CB Denzel Ward. I really thought new Browns’ GM John Dorsey would be good, but he has already shown signs of incompetency. As I mentioned earlier, whenever there is a GM who did not hire his team’s current head coach, the head coach’s job is always in danger.

Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins

Miami head coach Adam Gase has repeatedly expressed his belief in Tannehill, who is set to be the Dolphins’ starting quarterback in 2018. I like Tannehill, but his teams have just not been good enough. And whenever the Dolphins seem to be looking up, he gets injured. That leaves Matt Moore to be the starting quarterback, and nothing against Matt Moore, but he just won’t cut it. The Dolphins’ organization will eventually get frustrated and part ways with Tannehill if he can’t get his career on track.